Animal abusers shamed in SPCA list

Abused animals on the latest SPCA List of Shame include a duck with a beak blown up by a firecracker and 600 starving birds trying to eat their dead companions.

26 February 2018

A duck with a beak blown up by a firecracker, a Labrador starved to death and a horse suffering from a botched dental appointment are among abused animals on an annual list of shame.

Other sad tales on the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' annual list included 600 starving chickens, roosters, and ducks trying to eat their dead companions and a dog left to suffer by its owner after being hit by a car.

SPCA acting chief executive Andrea Midgen says her team knoww how upsetting it is to read about shocking cases of abuse, but it is the reality of what inspectors see in their jobs.

"These horrific cases of neglect and violence towards animals reinforces the vital need for the SPCA's work," she said.

The release of the list comes ahead of the SPCA's March 9 to 11 appeal to raise money for its inspection and rescue efforts. Its inspection services cost about $9 million per year, but it received almost no funding for them from the government.

2017 SELECTED LIST OF SHAME :

1. A woman is still waiting prosecution after her poodle Sully was found locked in a dark room, underweight and covered in a tangle of fur. The woman had already been disqualified from owning animals for a past case of abuse

2. A man was sentenced to home detention for keeping 600 starving chickens, roosters and ducks in overcrowded and dirty conditions. The birds were covered in mud and faeces and trying to feed on the dead animals around them

3. The owner of labrador-cross Tasha pleaded guilty to ill-treatment and was fined and banned from owning an animal for 10-years, after the dog died when found in a chronically malnourished condition

4. A mallard duck was put down after her beak had been blown up by a firework that was "likely purposely put" in its mouth

5. A dentist was fined after badly botching a horse called Sandfly's routine dental-check-up. The dentist partially removed some teeth without giving Sandfly pain relief. Two months later, the teeth became badly infected and Sandfly now requires full extractions and a long term treatment of antibiotics